Wishart, Dr. David

2010 Finalist: Outstanding Leadership In Alberta Technology

Collaboration Key To Changing The Way Medicine Is Practiced

A collaborative cross-disciplinary approach to innovation strengthens the scientific impact and broadens applications for the work being done in the province. It creates new knowledge and produces groundbreaking discoveries that improve the quality of life for people everywhere. Potential synergies like these make the life sciences key to producing real and lasting benefits to Albertans.

New Innovative Technology

University of Alberta researcher Dr. David Wishart works with scientists from various disciplines in institutions in Alberta and around the world. His research has pioneered innovative hardware, software, databases, chemical libraries and methodologies that redefine what is being done with metabolomics.

Over the past decade Dr. Wishart’s team has been working on techniques that allow for hundreds of metabolities to be identified and quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry. Most impressively, the Human Metabolome Project created the world’s largest collection of human metabolities, the most complete collection of metabolite spectral libraries and the most complete set of metabolitie databases in the world.

Looking Forward

The research and technology team has developed promises to make the delivery of diagnostic tests much cheaper and the quality much better. It has the potential to completely change the way medicine is practiced by providing metabolic-profiles for individual patients to monitor and treat their unique health issues.